- Chapter 1 General Provisions
- Chapter 2 Registration of the industrial drawing or model
- Chapter 3 Industrial drawing or model assignment, licensing for exploitation, mortgage and seizure
- Chapter 4 Termination and abrogation of industrial drawing or model rights
- Chapter 5 Miscellaneous Provisions
Law No. (6) for the year 2006 ,
on Industrial Drawings and Models
We, Hamad Bin Isa Al Khalifa, the King of the Kingdom of Bahrain
Having reviewed the constitution
The Regulation of Industrial Patents, Designs and Trademarks for the year 1955 amended by the legislative decree No. 22 for the year 1977
The Law of Civil and Commercial Proceedings enacted by the legislative decree No. 12 for the year 1971 and its amendments
The Trade Law enacted by the legislative decree No. 7 for the year 1987 and its amendments
The legislative decree No 7 for the year 1994, which ratifies the document of the creation of the World Trade Organization
The legislative decree No 31 for the year 1996 approving the Kingdom's accession to the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property
The Civil Law enacted by the legislative law No 19 for the year 2001
The Criminal Procedures Law enacted by the legislative decree No 46 for the year 2002
The legislative decree No. 1 for the year 1995 on the Kingdom's accession to the Convention of the Creation of the Word Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)
the Shura Council and the House of Representatives have approved the following law which we have endorsed and enacted:
Chapter 1
General Provisions
Article (1)
Any arrangement of lines and colors and any colored or non colored three dimensional shape shall be deemed as an industrial drawing or model.
Article (2) The industrial drawing or model, after being registered, shall enjoy the protection determined in this law and shall be registered under the fulfillment of the following terms: If filed independently and if novel. If usable in industry or handicrafts and if distinctively appears as an industrial or craftwork product. If not disclosed to the public whether in Bahrain or abroad in any way including its use or publication preceding the date of filing the registration application or the priority date of the registration application (if any). Excluded from the term of novelty stipulated in item (1) of the previous clause, the industrial drawing or model shall not loose the quality of novelty if it is disclosed to the public in any way after filing its registration application to a member in the World Trade Organization, a member state in the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, a country that treats the kingdom in like manner, or if the disclosure took place due to an evident abuse or unlawful deed by others, all the above in a period that does not exceed six months preceding the date of filing the registration application in the Kingdom or the priority date of the registration application (if any). The implementing regulation shall determine the procedures of enjoying the priority right.
Article (3)
The following shall not be registered as an industrial drawing or model: The industrial drawing or model which usually requires the technical or professional considerations of the product. The drawing or the model which violates the public law or the rules of conduct. The drawing or the model which includes religious symbols, or seals, or flags of the Kingdom or other countries. The drawing or the model which is identical or similar to a registered trademark or a well-known mark.
Article (4)
The protection provisions provided for in this law shall not be in breach of any other rights related to the industrial drawings and models, whether originating from the law or the international agreements and conventions in which the Kingdom constitutes a party.
Article (5)
The competent authority at The Ministry of Industry and Commerce shall set up a register called "The Industrial Drawings and Models register" in which shall be recorded the industrial drawings and models, all details pertaining thereto and all actions affected thereupon in accordance with the provisions of this law, its implementing regulation and the decisions issued for its implementation.
Article (6)
Without prejudice to the applicable provisions of the international conventions in The Kingdom of Bahrain, any natural or legal person shall be entitled to file an industrial drawing or models application in line with the provisions of this law, provided being one of the Kingdom’s citizens or being a foreigner affiliated with a member in the World Trade Organization, with any of the member states in the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, or with any country that treats the Kingdom in like manner, or if this person possesses a real and effective industrial or commercial entity in the territory of that member or country.
Article (7)
In the case an industrial drawing or model registration application was filed to a member in the World Trade Organization, to a member state in the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, or to a country that treats the Kingdom in like manner, the applicant or the one who has acquired the rights thereof may within a period of six months following the date of filing that registration application abroad, may file an application for the same industrial drawing or model, subject to the conditions, requirements and procedures stipulated by this law . In this case, the first date of filing the application shall be deemed as a basis for the priority right.
Article (8)
The rights of an industrial drawing or model shall be granted to the inventor or the one who has acquired the rights thereof. Should the invention be a result of joint efforts of a number of persons, the ownership of the industrial drawing or model shall be equally assigned to them, unless otherwise agreed. He shall not be considered as a participant in the invention that whose role was confined to the mere implementation thereof.
Should there be more than one applicant for the industrial drawing or model, each independent form the other, the right to the industrial drawing or model shall be given to the first one to apply
Article (9)
Without prejudice to the provision of Article (631) of the Civil Law, the ownership of the industrial drawing or model shall be assigned to the employer if the invention was the result of a contract or a commitment for exertion of inventive faculty.
Article (10)
Should a worker –not entrusted with an invention activity by virtue of the employment contract- create an industrial drawing or model relevant to the activity of the employer using expertise, documents, tools, or raw materials put under the disposal of the same worker, belonging to the employer, he shall, directly after declaring the industrial drawing or model registration decision, notify the employer of that effect in writing accompanied with a non-enveloped acknowledgment of receipt. The employer may choose within a period of three months of receiving the notification either to exploit the industrial drawing or model or to purchase the acquired rights thereof, either of which action shall be in return of a fair remuneration.
After the elapse of the period specified in the previous clause, the employer’s right of choice shall be abrogated without declaring his intentions to the employee in writing accompanied with a non-enveloped acknowledgment of receipt.
The provisions provided for in this article and in the previous article shall apply to civil magistrates in the Kingdom and those who are in similar status.
Article (11)
Where an application for an industrial drawing or model is filed by an inventor within one year of leaving his job for a public or private firm, the application shall be construed as if the same were in service, in which case the inventor and the employer shall be entitled to the all the rights prescribed in the two aforementioned articles as applicable.
Article (12)
The protection as per this law entitles the proprietor of the industrial drawing or model right to ban others from the manufacturing, selling, or importing of products which take the form of this industrial drawing or model, which include it, or which are not fundamentally different from it, if these products were intended for commercial purposes.
Article (13)
The term of protection for the industrial drawing or model shall be ten years as of the date of filing the registration application in the Kingdom. If the proprietor files a renewal application during the last year of the period, the protection shall be renewed for further five years. Though, the proprietor may file a renewal application during the six months following the original period expiry date. Filing the renewal protection application shall be done in the manner indicated in the implementing regulation.
Article (14)
A fee upon filing an industrial drawing or model shall fall due. Also, an annual incremental fee shall fall due as of the beginning of the second year of declaring the registration decision until the end of the legally specified period of protecting the industrial drawing or model. An additional fee shall fall due should there be a delay in settling the annual fee for a period that exceeds six months.
Chapter 2
Registration of the industrial drawing or model
Article (15)
A registration application for the industrial drawing or model shall be filed by the inventor or his successor in title at the competent authority at the Ministry of Industry and Commerce on a special form designed for this purpose in accordance with the provisions prescribed by this law and the requirements, conditions and procedures defined by the implementing regulation. The application may include several drawings or models no more than fifty provided being a homogeneous unit as a whole. In all cases, the applicant adheres to providing the data concerning the applications previously filed abroad by him in terms of the same industrial drawing or model, what is relevant to its subject matter, and the decisions of deciding on these applications.
Article (16)
The industrial drawing or model applicant may, at any time before the issuance of the registration decision, withdraw his application or correct any material mistakes in the application and its enclosures, subject to the procedures prescribed by the implementing regulation.
Article (17)
The competent authority at the Ministry of Industry and Commerce shall examine the industrial drawing or model registration application and its enclosures to ensure that the application fulfills the required formal requirements specified by the implementing regulation. This authority may ask for performing amendments upon the application, as it deems necessary, and fulfilling what it deems necessary to be decided on in terms of the application. The competent authority at the Ministry of Industry and Commerce shall issue a decision of accepting the industrial drawing or model registration application within sixty days following the fulfillment of the prerequisites indicated in the previous clause. If the decision was to refuse the industrial drawing or model registration application, this decision must be justified, and shall be notified to the applicant as per a receipt voucher without an envelop within thirty days of issuing the decision.
Article (18)
The decision of accepting the industrial drawing or model registration application shall be declared in the manner indicated in the implementing regulation. The concerned party, right after the registration completion, shall be granted an official document stating the industrial drawing or model registration. The Ministry of Industry and Commerce seal shall be affixed on this document according to the form prepared by the Ministry for this purpose.
Article (19)
The competent authority at the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, may at any time and of its own motion or upon request of an interested person issue an appropriate decision to add any detail to the industrial drawings or models register that may have been ignored, or to omit any detail that is non-compatible with reality or that has been unfairly entered, a notice of which shall be published, subject to the rules, procedures and manner prescribed by the implementing regulation.